Vienna, 23rd District: Liesing

The 23rd and last district of Vienna is called Liesing and off the nomenclature with district numbers that spiral out from the first to the last; Liesing is simply
somewhere on the edge, south of the 13th and West of the 12th. It spreads from the outskirts of the
Vienna Woods to the plain of the Wiener Becken, an area that was once occupied by several villages and extensive vineyards.

This idyllic picture is a challenge for the imagination of every visitor to modern Liesing: Ignoring the villa neighbourhoods at the Vienna Woods, Liesing consists mostly of
highways, vast commercial areas, ugly apartment blocks, more highways and shopping centres.

Nevertheless, Liesing looks back on a lot of history: The oldest written record dates back to
1000 A.D. Over centuries, there were only farmhouses, mills and a local castle. Most of this was destroyed by Turkish troops in
1529 and then again in 1683. Life on the countryside finally ended in the
19th century, when factories opened in Liesing and transformed the social structure of the area.

Liesing: Some History, but almost no Sightseeing

Back then, there was a division in two villages: Unterliesing and Oberliesing (Upper and Lower Liesing). Both were incorporated into Vienna by the Nazis in
1938, but returned to Lower Austria after WWII. There were some arguments between the allies and the Austrian post-war government whether or not surrounding districts should be part of Vienna or not - in
1954, these arguments were settled and Liesing finally became a part of the capital again.

In terms of sightseeing, Liesing has very little to offer. It is urban, commercial and mostly unattractive; the residential areas have a somewhat claustrophobic suburban flavour. There is
the very famous Wotruba church designed by the Austrian artist Fritz Wotruba in the 1960ies - a sculpture rather than a house. Three local castles -
Schloss Liesing, Schloss Rodaun (next to the Bergkirche Rodaun) and Schloss Alterlaa - are interesting, but nothing much to shout about.

Note also the park of Alt-Erlaa and the villa Hofmannsthal-Schlössl. If you want to learn more about Liesing (I assume you don′t, unless you happen to live there), the
district′s museum is the best place to go.